History

Xenia Vorotova is the founder of the makeup brand lime crime and the fashion band Poppyangeloff but she also immgainted to the United States from Izhvsk Russia. As a little girl, Xenia always idolized America and saw it as a place where anyone’s dreams could come true. She got this idea from several different America magazines, music and movies. She was obsessed with the English language and always wondered what was it like to be an American? When Xenia turned seventeen her mother, younger sister and herself immigranted to the United States for the opportunity for a better life.

Their destination was in New York City, and for many immigrants New York is considered the place where you can prove yourself, to make it big, and if you can survive in New York you can survive anywhere. The three women were very excited to be there and were more than willing to take the risks.

In the late 1990’s New York had the population of 7.4 million while in their home town Izhvsk only held half a million. They also suffered from culture shock due to the constant noisy subway cars, crowded streets and larger than life expenses.

They knew that living in New York City wouldn’t be easy and it was either eat or be eaten so they all came prepared to work and start from the bottom. Despite being eager to work and having savings left over, it wasn’t enough to survive on and even though her mother had experience as an accountant from when they lived in Russia, no one would hire her due to the fact her education records were taking a long time to be mailed. To make ends meet, Xenia’s mother started a cleaning business while Xenia walked dogs and watched over the neighborhood animals. They were traumatized by this experience and feared that they’d have to move back to Russia but with hard work, dedication and motivation they were able to pull themselves out of their rut and Xenia went on to make one of the most controversial makeup brands in America.